Dental veneers are wafer-thin, custom-made shells of tooth-colored materials designed to cover the front surface of teeth to improve their appearance or to cover damaged tooth surfaces. These shells are bonded to the front of the teeth, changing their color, shape, size, or length.
Dental veneers can be made from porcelain or from resin composite materials.
Application of porcelain veneers requires two appointments. At the first visit, the dentist will prepare each tooth by removing a minimum of approximately 0.5 millimeter of enamel from the tooth surface. Once the teeth have been prepared, the typical procedure is to take an impression of the teeth and send it to a laboratory to fabricate a custom fit product from porcelain material. At the second visit, the final product will be ready to be placed. In the meantime, the dentist will place temporary veneers over the prepared teeth.
Application of composite veneers requires a single appointment only. Composite veneers can be made thinner than porcelain and, therefore, require no, or minimal, removal of the tooth surface before the veneer is bonded to the tooth. As such, the use of composite veneers is a more conservative treatment. It is also more cost effective for the patient since there are no lab costs, less chair time, and no temporary veneers are required.
A significant drawback of directly applied composite veneers is that it can be difficult to create the precise tooth contour (line angles, grooves, and lobes) and then polish the veneer to obtain a glazed appearance, which will accurately mimic the glaze of a natural tooth. An artistic hand is required in order to produce natural seamless results and, for most dentists, a direct anterior composite veneer restoration is one of the most challenging clinical procedures. Therefore, many dentists choose to have porcelain veneers fabricated off-site by a dental laboratory, which are then bonded to the patient's tooth during a follow-up visit to the clinic.